Lucknow: Krunal Pandya shone with an all-round show while his captain KL Rahul chipped in with the bat as Lucknow Super Giants notched a comprehensive five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match here on Friday. Krunal first produced a superb spell of 3/18 with the ball to restrict SRH to a paltry 121 for 8 and then contributed 34 off 23 deliveries with the bat to help LSG chase down the target with 24 balls to spare in a low-scoring match.
He stitched 55 runs with Rahul (35) for the third wicket to take the game away from the SRH's reach. By the time, Krunal was out in the 13th over, LSG needed just 22 runs to win. The home side eventually reached 127 for 5 in 16 overs. Rahul hit four fours during his 31-ball knock while Krunal's innings was studded with four boundaries and one maximum.
Rahul and Romario Shepherd (0) were out off successive deliveries bowled by Adil Rashid (2/23) in the 15th over but that was just delaying the inevitable. Experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 13 runs in the first over of LSG's run chase, giving away five wides and Rahul hitting a four.
Rahul found the boundaries against Washington Sundar and Aiden Makram but lost his opening partner Kyle Mayers (13) in the fourth over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi who came in as SRH's impact player in place of Rahul Tripathi. Bhuvneshwar made amends of his expensive first over, scalping the wicket of Deepak Hooda (7), caught and bowled, in the last powerplay delivery to reduce LSG to 45 for 2.
Rahul and Krunal denied SRH any success for 6.2 overs as LSG inched closer to the target. LSG were always far ahead of the asking rate and they needed just 40 runs from the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand. Earlier, left-arm spinner Krunal snapped wickets of three top-order batters in a superb spell.
Krunal scalped the wickets of Mayank Agarwal (8), Anmolpreet Singh (31) and captain Makram (0) -- the last two dismissals from successive balls in the eighth over -- to reduce SRH, who opted to bat first, to 50 for 3. Playing his first match of the season as well as the first as SRH captain, Markram went for a drive in the first ball he faced but it spun away to disturb his off stump.
Ravi Bishnoi then removed Harry Brook, stumped by Nicholas Pooran, for 3 as SRH were in tatters at 55 for 4 in nine overs. SRH could not recover from there. Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra produced a fine spell of 2/23 later in the innings to restrict SRH to a small total. Mishra was substituted by 'Impact Player' Ayush Badoni with just one over left in the innings.
LSG skipper Rahul's ploy to introduce spin in the third over in the form of Krunal on a difficult wicket having variable bounce paid off. Agarwal went for a drive only to hit straight to Marcus Stoinis in the third over to give LSG their first wicket. Five overs later, he trapped well-set batter Anmolpreet for an LBW before bowling out Makram the next ball to spoil the South African's first outing as SRH captain.
From 43 for 1 after the powerplay overs, SRH were 63 for 4 at the halfway stage. One-down Rahul Tripathi (34) played a lone hand in the second half of the innings as he stitched 39 runs, the highest partnership for SRH, with Washington Sundar (16), before he fell in the 18th over off the bowling of Yash Thakur. Abdul Samad hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat to take the SRH score past 120. (PTI)
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 121 for 8 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 35, Anmolpreet Singh 31; Krunal Pandya 3/18).
Lucknow Super Giants: 127 for 5 in 16 overs (KL Rahul 35, Krunal Pandya 34; Adil Rashid 2/23).
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Lucknow Super Giants, led by spin all-rounder Krunal Pandya, restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 121 for eight in the Indian Premier League here on Friday. Opting bat, things didn't pan out Sunrisers' way as the top order was blown away by Krunal (3/18), who took the scalps of openers Anmolpreet Singh and Mayank Agarwal and skipper Aiden Markram.
Veteran spinner Amit Mishra (2/23) took two wickets. Rahul Tripathi was the top-scorer for the Sunrisers with 41-ball 35.
Brief Score: Sunrisers Hyderabad 121 for 8 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 35, Anmolpreet Singh 31; Krunal Pandya 3/18).
IPL Scoreboard: LSG vs SRH
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Anmolpreet Singh lbw b Krunal Pandya 31
Mayank Agarwal c Stoinis b Krunal Pandya 8
Rahul Tripathi c Amit Mishra b Yash Thakur 35
Aiden Markram b Krunal Pandya 0
Harry Brook st Pooran b Ravi Bishnoi3
Washington Sundar c Deepak Hooda b Amit Mishra16
Abdul Samad not out 21
Adil Rashid c Deepak Hooda b Amit Mishra 4
Umran Malik run out (Deepak Hooda/Jaydev Unadkat) 0
Bhuvneshwar Kumar not out 0
Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-2) 4
Total (For 8 wickets in 20 overs) 121
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-50, 3-50, 4-55, 5-94, 6-104, 7-108, 8-109
Bowling: Kyle Mayers 1-0-5-0, Jaydev Unadkat 3-0-26-0, Krunal Pandya 4-0-18-3, Yash Thakur 3-0-23-1, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-16-1, Deepak Hooda 1-0-8-0, Amit Mishra 4-0-23-2.
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Lucknow: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday opted to bat after winning the toss against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Here's what the captains had to say:
Rahul: Too early to say anything. We ended up batting well in the last game. We will look to adjust and play well tonight. We can come in with a set plan as we are playing for the first time here. Hooda will miss out. Avesh is taking a break as he got himself injured. We will look to be aggressive and get the wickets.
Markram: We will look to bat first. The wicket looks dry. Ideally we will get to our first win. The guys are looking excited. There are two changes. One of them is me.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh(w), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Harry Brook, Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Adil Rashid
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Amit Mishra, Yash Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi
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PREVIEW
SRH bank on Markram's tactical acumen against consistent LSG
Lucknow: South African players such as Aiden Markram will provide the impetus on Friday that Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) desperately needs in the face of crushing defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their first match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar captained the first match but a clueless Hyderabadi side was a shadow of their past as they heavily lost the game against Rajasthan Royals.
With proteas players making it into the side -- Markram, Marco Jansen, and Heinrich Klaasen -- after finishing off their national commitments, the SRH will be fueled with energy and would like to make the most of what remains this season. The team that finished at the bottom of the table last season in 2021 will lay hopes on Markram's leadership skills to clinch the title once again.
The powerplay overs have been a bone of contention for the Hyderabad side that struggled against Rajasthan where they dominated the proceedings with 85 runs in the first and then followed up by giving away just 30 runs and picking two wickets. The Brian Lara coached side would hope to put their last performance behind them and switch the restart button to provide their fans with a much-improved version of themselves.
Combine Markram's tactical acumen coupled with his batting prowess along with Jansen's bowling -- SRH will have both the department bolstered in the presence of these two players. Barring T Natarajan's two wickets where he conceded just 23 runs, none of SRH's seamer could trouble RR's batting line-up. Afghanistan's bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi picked a couple of wickets but was far too expensive giving away 41 runs in his quota of four overs whereas team's lead bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was certainly not up to the mark.
Their fastest bowler young Umran Malik did scalp a wicket but couldn't stop flowing runs where he was hit for 32 runs in 3 overs. Spinners too didn't help the team's cause as Washington Sundar and Adil Rashid were unable to halt RR's march.
As far as batting is concerned, Mayank Agarwal has looked promising this season while others including Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi were out without opening their scorebook which has made the top-order look vulnerable. Expectations from wicketkeeper-batter Glenn Phillips and Harry Brooks are high and they will need to up the ante as the league progresses.
For LSG, their skipper KL Rahul has been struggling for form and would like to quickly get back into the groove. Kyle Mayers, nevertheless, has provided a boost to his team with two back-to-back half-centuries in two games. Despite the batting being in jeopardy at times, LSG has somehow still managed to take their team home and register wins.
It's the bowling that has done the trick for the Lucknow side with thunderbolts from Mark Wood who dismissed five Delhi Capitals batters and thwarted CSK's threat with a three-wicket haul in the last fixture. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi too has chipped in with five wickets thus far. Meanwhile, LSG bowlers didn't have the best of times in terms of accuracy and would look to contain the flow of runs if they are to win the title this time around.
